LUY-Development

Author: Imported Author 1932006

  • Lionel Messi once held baby Lamine Yamal in his arms. Now they will battle for the World Cup title


    BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn’t think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.

    Now those images of the longhaired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer’s Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the runup to Sunday’s World Cup final, when Messi’s Argentina will play Yamal’s Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

    “I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,” Monfort told The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.

    Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the AP, took the photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar produced by local newspaper Sport and UNICEF.

    Luck dictated that Yamal’s mother, who appears in the calendar photo, won a raffle of families in the city of Mataró, near Barcelona, who wanted to participate. Soccer destiny then deemed that her baby boy, who would become a star for Barcelona some 15 years later, was paired up with the Argentine who would become one of the greatest of all time.

    A tearful Messi left Barcelona in 2021 when the club was in financial trouble. Yamal erupted at the club two years later. The journey is now complete, from bathtub to World Cup final, where the 19-year-old Yamal will face a Messi who is 20 years his senior.

    The famous photo was forgotten until …

    Monfort had no recollection of the photos until Yamal’s father posted one on social media during the 2024 European Championship, when a teenage Yamal was enjoying his international breakout and led Spain to the title.

    The photo went viral then. But now, with the World Cup final looming, Monfort said, interest in his photos has skyrocketed.

    “This has exploded all over the world, and the fact that the final is in the U.S. has given it the extra push,” Monfort said. “And now this has culminated with the final between Messi and Yamal. It is better than any film script.”

    Monfort said he has been bombarded by queries for the photos by professional media outlets, while also seeing his images reproduced countless times on social media and the internet without any credit or compensation.

    Yamal’s Spain teammate Mikel Merino had the same reaction as most people who see the photos.

    “The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Merino said Friday. “It’s unbelievable that two of the best players to have played the game — and hopefully Lamine, in the future, will be one of those — share a picture like that. Hopefully we’re going to see a very bright final with those two protagonists at their best, playing and giving all the fans a great spectacle.”

    Barcelona fans are torn by love of both Messi and Yamal

    Like many Barcelona fans, Monfort’s loyalty is split. It is common to see children wearing both Yamal’s Barcelona and Spain shirts, as well as any Messi shirt, whether from his Barcelona years or Argentina or his current club, Inter Miami, on the city’s streets.

    Monfort, 58, is considering traveling to see the final in New Jersey, but whether he watches it in person or at home, he said he will have trouble cheering for one team or the other.

    “My heart is split. I don’t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,” said Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter.

    “I have an everlasting love for the best player of all time (Messi),” he said, but “Yamal has broken the mould here” and represents a new, diverse Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. “Maybe they can both win. I wouldn’t rule it out after everything we have seen.”

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    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • How a 2,300-mile Walk for Peace thrust a Texas monk and his rescue dog into the spotlight


    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chien Le first met the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara in 2005, a few years before Pannakara became a novice monk at the Texas Buddhist temple where he is now the deputy abbot.

    What struck Le then, and amazes him still, is Pannakara’s iron-clad determination.

    “When he decides to do something, he goes all the way,” said Le, secretary of the temple — the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth. “He’s never been afraid of obstacles. He always finds a way through them.”

    That indomitable will was in full display during the meditative Walk for Peace that Pannakara led earlier this year with an international group of monks and his rescue dog, Aloka, who has become a mascot for the movement. The 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) journey started in Fort Worth on Oct. 26 and ended in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14.

    An ascetic walks into the spotlight

    Pannakara’s discourses on mindfulness and kindness in churchyards, town squares and in front of the Lincoln Memorial drew large, diverse crowds. Millions worldwide followed along online.

    Within weeks, the Walk for Peace had propelled this obscure monk into the spotlight as a leading voice for inner peace and unity in an increasingly divided nation. His popularity continues to soar, with some drawing comparisons with the Dalai Lama, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Thich Nhat Hanh, a revered Zen master and peace activist who shared Pannakara’s Vietnamese roots.

    Pannakara, who traveled to Southern California last weekend with Aloka for several speaking engagements, said he doesn’t care for all the attention.

    “There is no fame for monks,” he said. “I made a vow to walk to raise awareness of peace, loving kindness and compassion. That’s what it’s about.”

    As part of his Theravada Buddhist practice, he follows “Vinaya” — a strict code of monastic rules. That means no social media accounts, personal possessions or handling money, and the practice of celibacy and modesty.

    He doesn’t eat after noon and, according to Le, sleeps sitting up, which is not mandatory for Theravada monks, but adopted by some as an ascetic practice to deepen mindfulness.

    The pivot from engineer to monk

    Pannakara was born in Dak Lak, Vietnam, in 1981, the youngest of 10 children. He says his family was Buddhist in “name only.” He immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 and graduated with a degree in information technology from the University of Texas at Arlington. He said his first exposure to Buddhism was in the U.S. through temple summer camps and youth leadership.

    Pannakara stepped away from his engineering career to become a novice monk and became fully ordained in 2010 by his teacher, the Venerable Ratanaguna, who he has often cited as his source of inspiration. There was not one life-changing event that prompted his decision, he said, but the cumulative effect of seeing his loved ones suffer and people trying to step on each other to move up.

    “To me everything just seemed fake,” he said.

    Le recalls that Pannakara’s parents were inconsolable.

    “Even on the day he was ordained, his mother came, and she cried a lot,” he said, adding that they eventually accepted it.

    Le said Pannakara was a quick learner, completing several projects on their campus including landscaping, a new kitchen, homes for the monastics and a memorial hall for deceased members.

    At his teacher’s direction, Pannakara traveled to Myanmar between 2018 and 2020 to study and practice Vipassana meditation, an ancient technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. When COVID hit, he returned to Fort Worth and organized food drives, said Amanda Phan, a temple member.

    “(Pannakara) is a rare human being,” she said. “He is an embodiment of kindness, compassion, wisdom — a bodhisattva — a being whose purpose is to relieve others from their suffering.”

    Transformative journey tracing the Buddha’s steps

    In late 2022, Pannakara joined about 100 monks in a 2,100-mile (3,380-kilometer), 112-day pilgrimage tracing the footsteps of the Buddha — from his birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, to Bodh Gaya where he attained enlightenment; Sarnath, the site of the first sermon; and Kushinagar, where he died. The monks emulated Buddha’s journey — walking barefoot, eating one meal a day, and sleeping under the stars.

    “I had learned the Buddha’s teachings from the Tipitaka (Buddhist canon),” Pannakara said. “But with this walk, I experienced it.”

    He also learned about himself — about his strength to bear adversity and pain.

    “I learned that we can do much more than we think we’re capable of,” he said.

    That journey also brought Aloka into his life. Aloka means light in Pali.

    “Even when he faced challenges and almost died he walked with us,” Pannakara said of his dog.

    It was on a previous trip to Bodh Gaya — under the Bodhi tree where the Buddha attained enlightenment — that Pannakara said he had a vision to build stone stupas to preserve the sacred teachings for generations to come. Seven years later, he told Ratanaguna about his desire. With his teacher’s blessing, the plan for the $200-million Dhammacetiya project was born — 840 stupas bearing Buddha’s teachings in 10 languages, built to last 4,000 years.

    Pannakara knelt before an assembly of monastics and visitors during the temple’s 2022 International Vesak Ceremony and vowed that if he is unable to complete the project in this lifetime, he would “be reborn to continue this project until its completion.” This project and the peace walks — which he plans to do more of — together uphold his vow to promote peace and preserve the Buddha’s teachings, he said.

    Ajahn Nisabho, a Seattle-based Theravada Buddhist monk, said he was moved by Pannakara’s authenticity and commitment.

    “The story of his quilted robe that he stitched it together from pieces of cloth he picked up during the walk in India — he was honoring that past and that ethos,” Nisabho said. “As a fellow monk, it was inspiring for me to see floods of people walking behind him during the peace walk.”

    A conscious decision to steer clear of politics

    Bhikkhu Bodhi, a senior Theravada monk who spoke at the conclusion of the Walk for Peace in Washington, said Pannakara was wise to remain silent on politics during his walk. But Bodhi, 81, hopes he does speak up on critical social issues like poverty, hunger, housing and the climate.

    “I just hope that as (Pannakara) becomes more established and gets accustomed to publicity, he’ll consider taking a stand on these issues that have deep moral and spiritual significance,” he said.

    Nisabho believes Pannakara made the right decision to steer clear of politics and activism. He said there are not many spaces today that are able to welcome the kind of diversity the peace walk attracted — with the exception of Dolly Parton “who brings truckers and drag queens together.”

    “The vision of a monastic is the one chance someone has, to be inspired toward awakening and find an escape from suffering,” Nisabho said. “If you bring politics into that, you cause damage by alienating half the country.”

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.


  • Slovenian Slavko Vinčić to referee World Cup final as FIFA picks a European for Argentina-Spain game


    The World Cup final between Argentina and Spain on Sunday will be refereed by Slavko Vinčić of Slovenia, two years after he was in charge of a Champions League final.

    FIFA announced the pick late Thursday. It’s the second straight World Cup final where Argentina, now the defending champion, will have a European referee to face a European opponent.

    FIFA has faced criticism during the current World Cup for Argentina seeming to get the benefit of some refereeing decisions — including when soccer great Lionel Messi escaped a red card for a rough challenge on an Algeria opponent — with the coaches of Egypt and South Africa claiming inconsistencies.

    After Egypt formally alleged bias in decisions during its 3-2 loss to Argentina, FIFA director of referees Pierluigi Collina said: “Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials.”

    In his three games so far at the 2026 World Cup, Vinčić has shown seven yellow cards and one red card, and awarded no penalty kicks.

    In the most recent of his games, in the round of 32 more than two weeks ago, Vinčić sent off Ecuador’s Piero Hincapie after a video review for covering his mouth in a confrontation with a Mexico opponent.

    Vinčić also worked two group-stage games, when Brazil and Morocco drew 1-1 and Algeria beat Jordan 2-1.

    Bayern-Madrid epic

    In the last European club season, Vinčić’s biggest match was Bayern Munich’s 4-3 win over Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

    Vinčić showed yellow cards to five Madrid players, and second yellows to Eduardo Camavinga for timewasting and Arda Guler for dissent to send them off late in the game.

    Those were among just three red cards that Vinčić showed in nine Champions League games and he awarded just two penalties.

    The 46-year-old Slovenian refereed Madrid’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the 2024 Champions League final.

    The Slovenia link

    FIFA’s pick of Vinčić surprised some observers given ongoing tensions between its president Gianni Infantino and UEFA, led by Slovenian lawyer Aleksander Ceferin, who should attend the final at East Rutherford, New Jersey.

    UEFA claimed FIFA “crossed a red line” in suspending a mandatory one-game ban for United States forward Folarin Balogun to let him face Belgium in the round of 16, and called the decision “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.”

    On day four of the World Cup, some soccer federations published a letter during a FIFA-hosted conference in Miami criticizing Ceferin personally for a reported comment made days before the tournament in Slovenia about the expanded 48-team competition format.

    Vinčić follows Szymon Marciniak of Poland in being chosen to officiate the biggest match in world soccer. Marciniak awarded a penalty to each team in the thrilling 3-3 draw in the World Cup final between Argentina and France in Qatar in December 2022. Argentina then won the penalty shootout in which Marciniak showed a yellow card to goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for unsporting conduct in trying to distract French players.

    The pick of Vinčić continues a pattern for 10 straight World Cups since 1990: European referees are chosen for finals played outside Europe, and referees from other continents are picked for finals played in Europe. Those include Italian Collina, the premier referee of his generation, who worked Brazil’s 2-0 win over Germany in the 2002 final in Japan.

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    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • China warns of reciprocal countermeasures after US shortens foreign journalist visas


    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Thursday it will drastically shorten visas for foreign journalists in the U.S. to 240 days, down from years, and cut those for Chinese journalists to only 90 days, raising concerns over press freedom in the United States and prompting China to warn of possible reciprocal countermeasures.

    The rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security will do away with the “duration of status” system, which allows foreign journalists to stay and work in the United States as long as they meet eligibility requirements. That will be replaced with a fixed period of time, though the visas may be extended.

    The agency says it’s necessary to better vet the visa holders. But advocates for foreign journalists oppose the change, saying the drastically shorter stay would severely restrict their ability to live and work in the States.

    The even shorter visa rule for Chinese journalists, which does not include those from the “special administrative regions” of Hong Kong or Macao, is particularly harsh and could add tensions to the already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing, despite both leaders stating they intend to stabilize ties.

    The decision comes at a time when President Donald Trump is targeting news organizations with multiple threats and legal actions at home and his administration is tightening immigration policies, though foreign journalists are not considered immigrants.

    Journalism organizations denounce the decision

    The rule will take effect 60 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. Congress can reject a rule, but it’s extremely rare.

    “We are outraged that the Trump administration has cruelly limited the duration of visas for foreign journalists from a period of up to five years to a fixed eight months,” the advocacy group Reporters with Borders said in a statement. “This change destroys international journalists’ ability to report from the U.S. and makes it extremely difficult for international outlets to operate here at all.”

    “The relentless cycle of visa renewals restricts press freedom, as journalists will feel compelled to avoid drawing the administration’s ire, lest their applications be rejected,” it said.

    The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement calling the new visa policy “the behavior of a backsliding democracy, not the international vanguard of free speech.”

    In proposing the change in August 2025, the federal agency said the rising number of foreign journalists in the U.S. “poses a challenge” to its ability “to monitor and oversee these nonimmigrants while they are in the United States.”

    It added that students and foreign visitors also will see their previous rule of “duration of status” replaced with fixed periods by the same decision.

    By admitting them into the country for a fixed period, the Department of Homeland Security said it could better vet the visa holders to ensure their activities are permissible. The visas can be extended.

    This isn’t the first time shortening visas has been proposed

    The first Trump administration sought to change the visa rules in 2020, but the proposal was withdrawn in 2021 when President Joe Biden took office.

    But the White House then tightened visas for Chinese journalists to only 90 days, in response to the treatment of U.S. journalists in China, including the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters, as tensions flared up during the COVID-19 pandemic between the two countries. The Biden administration later relaxed the rule, allowing stays to increase to up to a year.

    When the Trump administration proposed to revive the 90-day rule last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it opposed “the U.S.’s discriminatory move targeting a specific country.”

    China warns of reciprocal measures

    China’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “discriminatory” and said it would affect the work of Chinese media in the U.S.

    “China urges the U.S. to immediately revoke its discriminatory policies targeting Chinese journalists and effectively safeguard their lawful rights and interests in the U.S.,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a daily briefing in Beijing. He added that “China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.”

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    AP journalists Fu Ting in Washington and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to the report.


  • China’s Xi calls for more global efforts to guide AI, chides US for its curbs on tech sharing


    SHANGHAI (AP) — Development and governance of artificial intelligence should be a global effort, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday, while reiterating China’s objections to what he called the “overstretching” of national security concerns.

    Speaking at a conference in Shanghai, Xi said AI should not be dominated by any single nation. American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the world’s most advanced technologies, spurring China’s efforts to build its own know-how and intensifying the rivalry between the world’s two biggest economies.

    “The development of artificial intelligence should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation,” Xi said at the opening of China’s annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Others attending included the leaders of Kazakhstan, Cambodia and Thailand and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

    Xi opposes the ‘overstretching’ of national security in AI

    “We should together oppose the practice of overstretching the concept of national security in the field of artificial intelligence, and of placing one’s own security above that of other countries,” he said, repeating a longstanding Chinese complaint.

    China will expand AI cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS countries, Xi said. He promised to provide access for 30 countries to a Chinese-developed AI meteorological tool that provides early warning systems.

    Over the next five years, Xi said China will provide 5,000 AI training opportunities to developing countries.

    Closer partnerships can help prevent “historical injustice in AI,” he said.

    China’s new AI cooperation body seen as response to the U.S.

    Ahead of the conference, 29 countries including Pakistan, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement with China to establish a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. State media described it as an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Shanghai promoting global AI governance.

    The new AI cooperation organization can be viewed as China’s answer to the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative, said George Chen, partner and chair of digital practice at Washington-headquartered consultancy The Asia Group.

    The Pax Silica framework, launched late last year, focuses on strengthening collaboration with U.S. allies and partners on AI-related supply chains. Signatories include Japan, the U.K., Australia, the Philippines, Israel and India.

    Following a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s to Beijing to meet with Xi in mid-May, China and the United States also agreed to conduct a dialogue on AI development and governance.

    Chen, who was at the conference in Shanghai, also said Xi’s speech can be seen as a signal that China can be a reliable partner to the developing world, or “Global South” countries. “China will not let America be the monopoly of AI technology.”

    China’s advanced tech showcased as it steps up self-reliance

    More than 1,100 companies and 1,400 guests are participating in the annual AI conference this year, Chinese state media said.

    During the conference that runs until Monday, tech giant Huawei is showcasing its powerful AI computing system, the Atlas 950 SuperPoD.

    Some technology analysts now believe China has become an innovator in AI and is no longer just catching up with the U.S. China’s five-year plan until 2030 has prioritized progress in frontiers of science and technology including AI.

    China’s open-source AI models, like DeepSeek, are seen, especially across the developing world, as appealing and often more affordable than U.S. AI models, which are largely closed-source.

    Coinciding with the conference, the Chinese AI startup Moonshot released its latest AI model, Kimi K3. It said Kimi K3’s 2.8 trillion parameters — one of the measurements of an AI model’s capability — will make it the world’s largest open-source model. DeepSeek’s V4 Pro version has 1.6 trillion parameters.

    Last month, another Chinese AI company Zhipu, or Z.ai, rolled out its new flagship GLM-5.2 open-source model in a challenge to U.S. rivals including Anthropic’s models.

    But U.S. politicians and several major U.S. AI companies including Anthropic have accused Chinese AI models of illicit “distillation” of their models to extract their technologies, a claim that Beijing says is “groundless.” U.S. policymakers have also raised concerns over Chinese AI posing an economic threat to the United States.

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    Chan reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed from Beijing.


  • A simple pair of glasses is helping productivity gains in some Bangladesh garment factories


    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — For Ruma Aktar, a sewing machine operator at a garment factory in Bangladesh, one single item has transformed her work and improved her life: A pair of reading glasses.

    Aktar’s work is demanding, with each worker expected to produce thousands of garments a day. Precision is essential, and even small mistakes can slow production or result in rejected items. Aktar said her new glasses have helped her thread needles faster — and they’ve also relieved her headaches and eye strain.

    “Before I got the glasses, it took me a long time to thread the needle. Now I can thread it in just a short time. I make far fewer alterations than before,” she said.

    In Bangladesh, home to the world’s second-largest garment industry after China, some factory owners are working on supplying more glasses to workers to boost productivity. The country’s garment sector contributes about 11% of gross domestic product and employs around 4 million workers.

    VisionSpring, a global nonprofit social enterprise supplying affordable glasses to people in poorer countries, estimates that roughly one in three Bangladeshi garment workers need glasses but do not have them.

    The group has supplied glasses that cost less than ten dollars per pair to some workers through a partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents factory owners.

    Ella Gudwin, chief executive of VisionSpring, said the benefits were immediate, as workers were better able to meet quality and production targets. Better vision also reduces mistakes such as skipped stitches, uneven hems and misplaced buttons, cutting the need for rework, she said.

    Fahima Akhter, a director of Bangladeshi garment company Masco Group, said managers initially did not realize how many workers had vision problems because they rarely complained. She said Masco Group has screened about 5,000 workers, with around 30% receiving glasses.

    Akhter said her company plans to extend the program to its remaining workforce of more than 20,000 employees.

    “We don’t consider it a cost. It is an investment. If the workers are working with better vision, their productivity and workplace safety will improve, and eventually this will translate into better productivity and profit for the company,” she said.

    A randomized controlled research trial in India that was co-authored by Gudwin suggested that sewing machine operators who received reading glasses increased productivity by 6% while making fewer errors. The study, published in April in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, found that every $1 spent on vision screening and glasses generated $3.37 in productivity gains over 12 weeks.

    It estimated that expanding similar programs across the global textile and garment industry could generate the equivalent of $27 billion in additional annual output.

    Gudwin said vision correction has long been overlooked because eyeglasses were often seen as a luxury rather than an essential workplace tool. She said many factory workers develop age-related short-sightedness in their late 30s and early 40s, but delay treatment because they assume glasses are expensive.

    Gudwin said bringing eye screenings directly into factories removes those barriers.

    Masco Group’s Akhter said Bangladesh’s garment sector should make vision screening a standard workplace benefit.

    “Having a clear vision is not a luxury, it is a necessity now,” she said.


  • Lawmakers demand answers after ‘bombshell’ report about ICE officer shooting in Maine


    WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic members of Congress are demanding answers about Homeland Security’s vetting and training of immigration enforcement agents after it was disclosed that the ICE officer involved in a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health issues and violent behavior.

    The Associated Press reported Thursday that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.

    The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both major political parties for response.

    The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette’s history of violence and mental health issues and the death in Biddeford, Maine, “directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits.”

    “This senseless tragedy must be investigated and the officer responsible should be taken off our streets and face justice for his actions,” Thompson said in a statement to the AP.

    Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment, but three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and a daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.

    Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who led a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year as Democrats tried to impose restraints on immigration enforcement operations, said the consequences of failing to put guardrails on ICE are now being measured in lives.

    President Donald Trump’s administration “rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun — and Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability,” Schumer said in a statement. “They empowered ICE. Now they must work with us to prevent more killings.”

    The report on Brouillette’s troubling past comes as the Department of Homeland Security has been on a hiring spree, fueled by vast sums of money from Republicans in Congress to help carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda. It raises fresh questions about the department’s efforts to quickly hire, vet, train and dispatch recruits who are being sent to patrol communities across America.

    Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, referred back to her prior statement that “an impartial investigation into the shooting in Biddeford needs to proceed, as the details surrounding this tragedy are important.”

    Collins had said earlier that it is “extremely unfortunate” that the agent did not have a body-worn camera.

    The senator ensured $20 million for expanded use of body-worn cameras and $2 million for de-escalation training as part of the Homeland Security funding bill that Congress approved to end the department shutdown.

    “The Democratic government shutdown delayed enactment and implementation of these important safety measures,” she said.

    At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.

    “This bombshell is absolutely appalling — exactly the intolerable danger that we feared as a result of arrest quotas and inadequate training,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a statement to the AP.

    “This agent clearly should never have had a gun — let alone one provided to him by the United States government. And now a man is dead. I’m going to continue demanding answers and accountability,” he said.

    Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said Trump and his administration have encouraged ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection “to enter and terrorize our communities, even if those agents are untrained, improperly vetted, or lack experience.”

    “The killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was horrifying,” he said in a statement to the AP, “and there must be a credible, independent, and transparent investigation so that those responsible are held accountable.”

    The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, referred to his request earlier in the week that the department brief lawmakers from both parties on ICE’s use of force policies and the status of body camera deployment.


  • To air or not to air? Nation’s TV networks struggle to find the right balance for Trump speech


    As President Donald Trump threatened sanctions for those who didn’t cover his address live Thursday night, the nation’s broadcast and cable news operations wrestled with the thorniest of questions: To air or not to air?

    Networks and their news operations, broadcast and cable alike, spent the hours leading up to Trump’s address debating how to cover it — and struggling to balance delivering the news with handing over their airwaves to potential falsehoods about the 2020 elections.

    In the end, a patchwork quilt of coverage was largely united by one common strategy: real-time fact-checking as much as was possible even while the president was still speaking.

    The dilemma took place against a backdrop of deep tension between the media and a president working to exert control over it by whatever means he can. Even in his speech itself, Trump excoriated networks that chose not to carry it live, saying that “NBC and ABC fake news” avoided it because they “don’t like the topic.” He also threatened them with consequences, using the presidential pulpit to suggest they should be sanctioned for their editorial decisions.

    “They and others in the media are part of a plot,” Trump said, offering no evidence for his assertion. There is also no evidence of fraud in the 2020 elections.

    “They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going,” he said. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multibillion-dollar-in-value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting.”

    The tension between Trump and the news media during his second term has taken many forms, from sanctions against members of the White House press corps to regulatory actions through the Federal Communications Commission to outright lawsuits.

    There were a variety of approaches to coverage

    The media outlets’ decision-making — seemingly last-minute, for many, with networks divulging their plans minutes beforehand — produced a variety of coverage scenarios for the 24 minutes of Trump’s address.

    CNN’s Kaitlan Collins anchored her nightly program. “We aren’t taking it live,” she said of the speech, given the president’s “well-documented history” of falsehoods. Panelists were on hand for analysis and fact-checking. “Sadly, we have no choice to be skeptical when this president talks elections,” said the network’s veteran correspondent John King.

    Fox News and Fox Broadcasting aired the president’s speech live. But ABC and NBC did not, sticking with regular programming — “Press Your Luck,” in ABC’s case, and an animal show featuring alligators in NBC’s. But they were ready to cut in as they deemed newsworthy, as well as offering special reports afterwards.

    Both ABC and NBC, however, provided live coverage on their streaming channels — NBC News NOW and ABC News Live — as well as ABC News Radio. In the still-young era of streaming, that is increasingly a decision that allows network news to play it both ways.

    As for CBS, the network did preempt regular programming — a summer rerun of “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” — to air a special report anchored by Tony Dokoupil. The report joined the live speech a few minutes in, at 9:06, and left it before the end, at 9:23.

    MS NOW started airing the speech, then cut away for analysis and commentary after 17 minutes on host Jen Psaki’s show. Psaki used the split screen for a bit, with her speaking on the right and a muted Trump appearing on the left.

    By the end, of the top networks, the speech was continuing live only on Fox News.

    Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, said coverage of the 24- minute address made for “a weird evening, where the reporters quote and describe the speech but show little of what they’re quoting.” Thompson said full coverage was the way to go even — and perhaps especially — if the speech was believed to contain falsehoods.

    “When the president of the United States makes an announcement that there is going to be a major speech with major information, however cynical we are … I think that is, by definition, important civic news significant to the citizenry,” he said. “It’s the president making the speech, and if the president does what everybody’s worried about him doing, that is a real reason to be covering it, to bear witness on exactly what gets said.”

    Networks had been urged beforehand to carry it live

    Earlier Thursday, at the White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt had urged TV networks to carry the speech live. And Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity said on his show that major networks not going live was “pretty unheard of for a primetime address for a president.”

    Broadcast networks, though, have previously declined primetime coverage to President Barack Obama for a 2014 speech on immigration, and President Joe Biden for his speech on democracy, “Battle for the Soul of the Nation,” in 2022.

    The backdrop of Thursday’s speech was an ever-increasing tension between the media and the administration. Broadcast networks have been under close scrutiny by the Trump-appointed chair of the FCC, Brendan Carr, who has launched early reviews of licenses of some ABC-owned stations and threatened to revoke the long-held exemption from equal time rules for the popular talk show “The View.”

    Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn’t new. But in his second presidential term, he has launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal government or attempting to do so. The efforts have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.


  • Mets-Phillies start time moved, MLS game between Vancouver-Chicago ppd. due to wildfire smoke


    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The start time for the MLB game between the New York Mets and the Phillies on Thursday in Philadelphia was moved up an hour due to air quality concerns because of wildfire smoke from Canada and northern Minnesota, and an MLS game in Chicago was postponed.

    Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous.

    Officials in many cities urged residents to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it’s unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. The National Weather Service said a lingering high pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground.

    The Philadelphia region is experiencing smoky and hazy skies. The game’s start was moved to 6:10 p.m. EDT from 7:10 p.m. It is the only game on the big league schedule coming out of this week’s All-Star break.

    “It’s definitely different,” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said on ESPN during the broadcasting of the game. “Not the greatest idea, I guess, to come out here and play in this type of weather, but we’re doing it.”

    After his team’s 4-1 victory, Mets interim manager Andy Green was asked how the conditions affected the game.

    “I don’t think they really did,” Green said. “I think it felt like they could have at any moment, especially as visibility got tougher. But, guys managed to see baseballs that I couldn’t when they went up in the air as popups. So, good thing we’ve got good athletes on the field that can see things.”

    Phillies manager Don Mattingly said tracking fly balls later in the game seemed to become an issue.

    “It didn’t seem to be a huge problem,” Mattingly said. “The vision, later on, was a little bit like foggy conditions more than the air quality. As far as the guys were concerned (visibility) seemed to be the problem.”

    This is the second time wildfire smoke has affected a game in Philadelphia. In June 2023, a game between Detroit and Philadelphia was postponed due to poor air quality related to smoke from Canadian wildfires.

    Poor air quality due to wildfire smoke also forced the Major League Soccer game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Fire at Chicago’s Soldier Field, along with a scheduled postgame concert, to be postponed. The game, which was expected to draw 40,000, will be made up on Oct. 6.

    Also, the Canadian Premier League postponed Thursday’s scheduled game between Forge FC and Pacific FC that was to be played in Hamilton, Ontario, due to “worsening air quality issues.” The league said on its website that conditions “deteriorated in the final hours leading up to kickoff.”

    Trinity Rodman, a member of the U.S. women’s national team, said the smokey sky was difficult to deal with during Wednesday night’s NWSL game between the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC at New York’s Citi Field.

    Rodman said she wasn’t a fan of the hydration breaks every 15 minutes in the game as the temperature reached into the 90s.

    “Air quality was rough,” Rodman was quoted as saying by The Athletic. “Not to make excuses at all, but I think on both sides we were all like, ‘another break, another break, another break.’”

    A crowd of more than 42,000 attended the rematch of teams in last season’s NWSL title game. The crowd was a record for a women’s sporting event in New York City.

    “If we have to have a hydration break every 15 minutes, then we shouldn’t be playing the game, and that’s my opinion,” Rodman said. “But at the end of the day, there’s 40,000 people. It’s a whole event, so it’s really tough. It’s just a really hard situation for everyone to work around.”

    ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports


  • Outrage after ICE agents tackle man at Las Vegas airport


    PHOENIX (AP) — Video footage of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tackling a man at the airport in Las Vegas drew public outrage and criticism from elected officials.

    One video posted on social media showed a man yelling and crying on the ground in Terminal 3 at Harry Reid International Airport on Monday when a man and a masked woman, both in plainclothes, tried to control, handcuff and detain him. When the pair realized they were being filmed, they walked away, leaving the man with a handcuff attached to one arm.

    The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police found no outstanding warrants for the man, removed his handcuffs and notified ICE.

    According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE officers on Monday did not proceed with the arrest at the Las Vegas airport of Phu Nguyen, a 57-year-old citizen of Australia who overstayed his visa. ICE arrested him at his flight departing the Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said.

    “ICE is continuing to act with impunity — instilling fear in our communities and scaring tourists, which hurts our tourism economy,” Democratic U.S. Senator for Nevada Jacky Rosen said in a statement. “Enough is enough. ICE must follow the same commonsense guardrails as other law enforcement agencies.”

    The Nevada Latino Legislative Caucus and the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Caucus are calling for a full investigation into the aborted arrest by ICE at Harry Reid International Airport, urging Gov. Joe Lombardo to explain the transparency and accountability for federal law enforcement agencies operating in Nevada.